“Back in it goes, and you take the deck. Shuffle it up. We should reward ourselves with a swim at the end of the day. Which would you pick, sea or pool?”

“The sea.” If no one else was on the beach, she added to herself. “How often will I have the chance to swim in the Ionian? Is that enough?”

“It is, sure, if it feels enough for you. Set the deck down again, and fan it out yourself.”

She did as he instructed, leaned forward, eyes sharp.

“Now where do you suppose your card might be. Here?” he tapped a card. “No, no, maybe here. Ah, here comes our Riley.”

“Playing cards and drinking beer, while I’ve been sweating over a hot cell phone.” She dropped down, picked up what was left of Bran’s beer, and drained it.

“He’s doing a card trick, but I don’t think it’s working out for him.”

“Such lack of faith and wonder.” Bran sighed. He ran a fingertip along the fanned cards. “Not here or there at all, it seems, because . . . Do you mind?” he said to Riley and took the hat from her head, turned it over. “Your Queen of Hearts is in Riley’s hat.”

Sasha’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible.”

“And yet it is.” He held up the queen between two fingers, turned his hand at the wrist, and held nothing.

“I’ve gotta say,” Riley commented as Sasha gaped. “That’s some of the best close-up magic I’ve seen. I also have to say I’ve done some magic of my own. We’ve got a place if we want it.”

“How did the card get in Riley’s hat when she wasn’t here?” Sasha demanded.

“But she is here, and she’s polished off my beer.”

“But . . .” Then with a laugh, Sasha held up her hands in surrender. “I want to see you do it again when— Did you say you found a place?”

“Yeah, and that earns me a beer of my own. But I’ll wait until we get there, take a look at it. It’s not far. Just outside of Sidari.”

“I saw Sidari on the map—west of here.”

“You got it. I had some luck.” Now Riley reached out, took a long sip of Sasha’s juice. “Friend of a friend of an uncle. It’s his villa, and he’s in the States on business for the next few weeks. His lucky day, too, as the couple who was caretaking the place had to leave just yesterday. Guy took a bad fall, broke his leg. So the friend of a friend of an uncle says we can use the place if we do the caretaking thing.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Bran asked.

“Yard work, gardening, maintaining the pool—did I mention there’s a pool? There’s also a dog—so feed and water—and chickens.”

“Chickens?” Sasha repeated.

“Feed and water again, and help ourselves to the eggs. We take care, we stay for free until he gets back in about four weeks. Sounds like a hell of a deal to me.”